Adelie nearly smiled at the old nickname her grandma had never stopped using for her, but she was still too distraught.
“Search deep down, in your inmost thoughts and heart. I’m not saying there aren’t men out there who are scum and who do take advantage of women in all kinds of awful ways. And I’m not saying the women who get bamboozled by them can always tell it’s happening. But that doesn’t mean this Maddox of yours is one of them. You said you thought he cared for you?”
Her thoughts sprang to the kiss they’d shared while watching the Eiffel Tower through the darkened Paris night, of waking in his arms, of their flight home and how he hadn’t been able to keep his distance from her, how he’d always had a hand on her knee or in hers even when they were the smallest distance apart. That hadn’t seemed false.
Adelie’s throat was too tight to speak, yet she somehow wrangled out the words.
“Yes. There were moments between us that felt so real.” Not a dream. She wasn’t going to wake from this. She’d had a connection with Maddox, one he couldn’t have been faking.
“And you say you left before either of you could say much. After this Ruby butted her nose into your business.”
Another nod.
Grammy Larsen patted her hand. “Then you know what you need to do.”
“I do?” Adelie’s gaze darted from Grammy’s kind, wrinkled eyes to Ella’s sweet countenance and Charlotte’s fervent nod.
“Go talk to him,” Ella interjected. “It’s normal to have problems. Hawk and I had our first fight over how to cook spaghetti.” She giggled as though it was ludicrous. “I know it doesn’t compare to what you’re going through, but you’ve got to talk to him. Hear what he has to say. Let him defend himself or plead guilty, but either way, he’s the one you need to be working through this with.”
A rock slid into her stomach, yet something else slid inside her with it. Something warm and encouraging. Something that told her she could do this. Maybe it was Grammy Larsen’s gentle yet coaxing manner or Ella’s helpful sweetness.
Adelie smiled through her tears. “And here I thought I’d come here to help you.”
“Of course, you can help me,” Ella chuckled, pulling her into a hug. “Just get home and talk to that husband of yours.”
Home. Home had always been Grandma and Grandpa Carroll’s house, but the first image flashing in her mind with the word was Maddox’s. Could his home become hers after all?
True to her word, Adelie helped pin fabric and then held it up to keep it from dragging on the floor as Ella guided it through her sewing machine. The friendly chatter and jokes about Hawk’s uneasiness with airplanes and confined spaces and how Ella worried she’d have to drug her husband if she wanted to get him to take her on any kind of honeymoon, the prattle about Charlotte’s boyfriend, and about how Grammy Larsen’s job working at Ever After Sweet Shoppe had lasted longer than she’d planned on, but how she enjoyed sneaking treats every chance she could, warmed Adelie’s heart.
Still, by the time she left, she wasn’t ready to go back to Maddox’s house. Her heart ached for the connection they’d shared while in Paris. Though Ella had called his mansion her home, Adelie wasn’t sure where that was anymore.
***
“Would you hold still? You’re making me dizzy.”
Maddox hadn’t been able to stay in one place. He’d hardly slept the night before. His final conversation with Adelie before she’d darted from his home had been a broken record in his mind ever since. How could he have ever let this happen?
Showing what a good friend he was, Duncan had come at Maddox’s request, but he didn’t get the chance to take Maddox’s offer and sit down. Instead, he’d stood in front of the closed office door, jacket in hand, and gaped at him.
“You’d pace too if you’d just lost the love of your life,” Maddox grumbled.
“The love of your life?” Duncan’s tone was snider than usual. Maddox gave him a sidelong glance. While his friend was notoriously snappish at his own office, he wasn’t usually that way here with him. Had something happened?
Duncan brushed something from the jacket in his hand. “I can’t say I’ve ever had that pleasure.”
Upon first arrival, Duncan had admitted he’d gotten into another spat with his assistant over something completely trivial. Seriously, how could booking flights be cause for an argument?
While Maddox’s best friend had fired plenty of assistants in the past for lesser reasons—he’d fired one girl for spelling a name wrong on a company invitation, for goodness’ sake—it wasn’t like Duncan to complain this much about Rosabel and do nothing about it.
It gave Maddox a sneaking suspicion that the rumors Duncan also complained about—that something more between him and Rosabel was going on—were true. If that was the case, Maddox couldn’t understand why Duncan wouldn’t just admit he had feelings for his assistant.
“Forget it,” Maddox said, regretting he’d invited Duncan over in the first place. He’d needed someone to talk to, though. Speaking with Duncan in person wasn’t the respite he’d hoped for.
Duncan placed his jacket on the bar, crossed the room, and stopped Maddox with his hands on his shoulders. “Look. I’m sorry. I didn’t know you liked her so much. I thought you—”
“I told you how I felt about her,” Maddox argued. “Don’t tell me you’re taking Ruby’s side in this.”
“It was crazy rushed, man,” Duncan said in his defense. “You just up and married her. How else is it supposed to look?”
Maddox shook his head. “I didn’t care how it looked. It wasn’t supposed to leak, not until we were ready.”
“And now that it is, the whole world is going to think the same thing as Ruby.”
“I have to do something,” Maddox said, frustrated by the entire turn of events. “She thinks this is all about the money for
